Have we accepted fuel prices and started having fun again??

[TameRacingDriver]

ajb85 said:

danyeates said:

Have been running one car between my girlfriend and I for 10 months now, a 1.6 Civic Sport. Finally got bored and bought myself a BMW Z4 3.0 litre for the winter!

I won't use it much, so I'm hoping fuel won't be too much of an issue.

I've been looking at these thinking Parkers' claimed 32mpg for the 3.0 isn't too bad, a touch better than the 330i coupe with the same engine.

What's the mpg like in reality?

I'd suggest if you're actually enjoying the car as opposed to trundling down the motorway in it, the reality will be somewhat less. I always take the MPG figures bandied about on the internet with an enormous pinch of salt, as it would appear some people will take a figure their car can achieve on a long 56 mph journey behind a lorry and claim it to be their average!

[Guvernator]

TameRacingDriver said:

I'd suggest if you're actually enjoying the car as opposed to trundling down the motorway in it, the reality will be somewhat less. I always take the MPG figures bandied about on the internet with an enormous pinch of salt, as it would appear some people will take a figure their car can achieve on a long 56 mph journey behind a lorry and claim it to be their average!

Lol, the only car I have owned which has got anywhere near the official figures is my current 335i and that's when I drive it like a panzy, none of my other cars have even come close to official figures, let alone the rubbish that regularly gets spouted on PH.

[TameRacingDriver]

Guvernator said:

Lol, the only car I have owned which has got anywhere near the official figures is my current 335i and that's when I drive it like a panzy, none of my other cars have even come close to official figures, let alone the rubbish that regularly gets spouted on PH.

Not just spouted on PH, but on quite a few owners club forums too.

As a general rule of thumb, I find if you take the combined figure and the urban figure, the real figure is usually somewhere between those two figures, unless you're doing a lot of distance driving.

Example, my last car, Clio 172, is one I often see claimed to do 40 MPG easily. The only time I got that was on a 50 mile run at 60 - 70 mph. If I drove to work at a slow, steady pace (against the flow of traffic so not much congestion), I would get 33. Driving it properly? Under 30.

I've seen people claiming almost 40 MPG out of BMW 328s and the like. Again, my experience was 35 if you were granny driving down a motorway for mile after mile. Mid 20's was much more typical.

And Fabia vRS TDIs that were said to do 60 MPG "even when driven hard" proved to be nonsense, 40 MPG was more typical in my use; Early tall-geared examples might have managed 60 doing the aforementioned granny cruise...

Maybe people want to convince themselves their car can do better than they really know it can.

[Guvernator]

That's man maths at work, the higher the fuel prices go, the better mpg your car will seem to extract. It's either that or admitting your lying to yourself and chopping it in for a diesel blue motion.

[simoid]

TameRacingDriver said:

Not just spouted on PH, but on quite a few owners club forums too...

...Maybe people want to convince themselves their car can do better than they really know it can.

Maybe some people have an uncanny ability to get better MPG than you

[giblet]

Yes and no. Up until two weeks ago I was driving a 1.4 Tsi Golf. It was fairly economical, averaging around 42mpg with mixed driving and well over 50mpg on a proper run. I ended up changing cars and am now back in a Galant VR4. I didn't expect a 2.5 V6 with two small turbos to be economical in the slightest, mainly because my last VR4 wasn't economical. So far I have spent just under £200 in fuel in 2 weeks of ownership. This bd on runs on 99ron so its V power only for me.

Part of me has accepted high fuel prices, but the sensible side of me is making me reconsider where and when I drive in order to limit my weekly fuel costs as I simply can't afford to be averaging £100 in fuel a week! Maybe I should have thought about that before switching cars though...

[V6Paul]

giblet said:

Yes and no. Up until two weeks ago I was driving a 1.4 Tsi Golf. It was fairly economical, averaging around 42mpg with mixed driving and well over 50mpg on a proper run. I ended up changing cars and am now back in a Galant VR4. I didn't expect a 2.5 V6 with two small turbos to be economical in the slightest, mainly because my last VR4 wasn't economical. So far I have spent just under £200 in fuel in 2 weeks of ownership. This bd on runs on 99ron so its V power only for me.

Part of me has accepted high fuel prices, but the sensible side of me is making me reconsider where and when I drive in order to limit my weekly fuel costs as I simply can't afford to be averaging £100 in fuel a week! Maybe I should have thought about that before switching cars though...

I found you think about switching back for a bit (went from 50mpg to 25mpg) but then the petrol car grows on you more and it just doesn't matter so much.

I'm very much with the others in thinking that the cost will only go up in the future, so have as much fun as you can now!

[anonymous-user]

Interesting topic.

I remember complaining when the diesel/petrol prices rose to their current levels but never actually did anything about it. It now seems I must be used to the prices or just got bored of complaining. Either way I don't complain much anymore.

I count myself lucky in that I usually use a motorbike for work which returns 55+ mpg. My petrol car gives about 35 mpg but I haven't filled it up for 6 weeks such is the frequency of use.

This has led me down the route of looking to change it for something much worse on fuel.

I can't bring myself to run a diesel. I don't think I've accepted the petrol prices. I bought a cheap economical bike to get around them so I could run a fun car.

[nonuts]

Part of my rationale behind the M5 was owning these kind of cars is never going to be cheaper than it is right now, and I wanted a 5L V8 in my life.

[simoid]

I don't I bother about high fuel prices, it's rising prices that we notice, then have a moan about until they stabilise again

[Kong]

Just because petrol prices have gone up doesn't mean all the big engined cars are going to vanish into thin air! They will just go down in value to a price point which they will sell at (then bought by a pistonheader).

[Welshbeef]

ArnageWRC said:

Hmm, I'm mulling over the petrol v diesel conundrum. Currently have a Fabia vRS SE, which is now paid for – and can’t decide what to go for next. However, as I’m averaging about 10,000 a year – then surely the petrol is the better way? I often go to Wales to watch a Rally, fill up before I go and not need to fill up again....and return silly MPG figures...
Choices....Renaultsport Clio, Skoda Yeti, Citroen DS3, Mazda MX5, Mini Cooper D.....

If its now paid off why not keep running it and save up for the next vehicle so you can pay cash for it not take out more debt. Also you'd be getting the max value out of the vRS by doing so.

[ajb85]

My problem is I'm still loathed to accept 20mpg after running a diesel for so long. Similarly to the people who have motorbikes for their commute and leave something tasty up the drive for the weekend, I have been trialing similar by running two cars. Having done so for a couple of weeks I'm struggling to see how fellow PH'er is able to leave his 944 at home and take the C1 even down to the shops..

The 530d auto is useless for small trips, whilst the engine is cold as I hop up the road I get 25mpg. I can hardly bang the 'buy a diesel' drum with a return like that. In this instance I'd much prefer it to be a 540 and pay less for the pleasure! So I've kept hold of an old A4 tdi avant I took in p/x to use as the daily hack. Much better on juice but it's noisy and crude; it's a snotter by all accounts and gives me no pride behind the wheel. Leaving the 'nice wheels' at home and stepping into a snotter feels like a punishment that you've oddly inflicted upon yourself. If this worked in practice I'd ditch the 530d and get something that I really want, like an AMG Merc. Something of a guilty pleasure that otherwise I couldn't afford to run every day. However it just wouldn't work, would it? As car nuts we like the cream of the crop; should there be a choice, and so naturally you'd gravitate towards the tastier car rendering your new V8 motor a rather expensive replacement 'hack'.

So back to the drawing board with the 'Running a V8 on a budget' idea..

Out of interest; how many of us here actually have 'weekend cars' per se? The type of car you use just for pleasure and one that would be crippling to put fuel every day? I'm talking about the average Joe here and not the chaps with Ferrari 360s in their central heated garage they take out for weekend jaunts...

[crosseyedlion]

Guvernator said:

Yes.

The costs of running a car with a decent sized engine are only going to go one way, up. In 20 years time when either Petrol has run out, driving cars for fun has been legislated out of existence or we've been forced to stop using them in favor of lentil powered bubble cars, I'll look back in satisfaction and say I had my time.

This.

Despite now having to be at uni 5 days a week and being able to work less (income)...I've sold my 328i (which I considered good on fuel...ish...if i tried) and changed it for a 5.4 v12 bmw 750il. Mostly because I wanted to own a v12 whilst its legal (still low rate tax). Was amazed I was getting 29mpg @70 driving it home though, but the current average pottering around oxford is 16mpg.

Very few understand why I dont mind running thirsty cars, apparently students should all be in 1.0 corsas.

[Dave Hedgehog]

as you get older you accept that everything in life thats fun costs you one way or another

i enjoy driving a fun car but its an expensive toy, however my train season ticket would cost me £5,300 a year so that goes a long way to covering the fuel costs and payments

[danyeates]

ajb85 said:

danyeates said:

Have been running one car between my girlfriend and I for 10 months now, a 1.6 Civic Sport. Finally got bored and bought myself a BMW Z4 3.0 litre for the winter!

I won't use it much, so I'm hoping fuel won't be too much of an issue.

I've been looking at these thinking Parkers' claimed 32mpg for the 3.0 isn't too bad, a touch better than the 330i coupe with the same engine.

What's the mpg like in reality?

Not picked mine up yet! Hoping to get it this weekend.

However, see here for consumption figures.... http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&am...

[TameRacingDriver]

simoid said:

Maybe some people have an uncanny ability to get better MPG than you

It's not exactly difficult to maximise mpg now is it?

[AllyBee]

I'm lucky enough that I don't have to commute by car so MPG is not such an issue. For me I'm happy to spend more cash on running a car that I enjoy than begrudge spending money on one I don't.

[Froomee]

When petrol prices were under £1 a few years back i purchased a Ford Focus ST Mountune. I averaged around 20-23mpg and 28 or so on a run so i purcahsed a more economical car.............................

a Z4M Roadster i average around 22-25mpg around town and i can get as high as 30-35 on a run (65-70 on cruise)

I also think that due to emissions and other regulations cars are becoming like bikes in that the "improvements" every year are becoming less and less noticeable esepcially in terms of power. Some cars break the mould due to there tuning ability i.e. 1M, RS3, etc but standard vs standard most cars haven't really got that much faster or quicker in the last 8-10 years.

I would prefer a slightly older car that costs less to buy and depreciates less as this is more crucial petrol i.e if petrol goes up 10% in a year and i spend £2.5k on petrol £250 extra is a small cost compared to say £2-£3k depreciation in a year.

[rossub]

ajb85 said:

Out of interest; how many of us here actually have 'weekend cars' per se? The type of car you use just for pleasure and one that would be crippling to put fuel every day? I'm talking about the average Joe here and not the chaps with Ferrari 360s in their central heated garage they take out for weekend jaunts...

I have a version 1 WRX thats had thousands spent on improving it (not barried) in the 9 years I've owned it. No way would I want the cost of running it as a 10k miles a year car, so its never done that.

Even having that, I got fed up with the diesel daily though. I just cant think of a single diesel car that is trully desireable as a piston-header. Even a 335d is still a diesel.